Abstract:
The United Nations estimates that 79% of teenage girls trafficked globally every year are forced into involuntary prostitution. About 247 000 South African children work in exploitative conditions;
about 40 000 South African female teenagers work as prostitutes. This paper investigates lifestyles and routine activities of teenagers at risk of being trafficked for involuntary prostitution. The key
concepts involuntary prostitution, intergenerational sex and exploitative conditions are defined in
relation to the lifestyles and routine activities of South African female teenagers. Human trafficking
for involuntary prostitution is described, based on a literature review. Lifestyle exposure and routine
activities theories help to explain the potential victimisation of these teenagers in human trafficking
for involuntary prostitution. Actual lifestyle and routine activities of South African teenagers and risky
behaviours (substance abuse, intergenerational sex and child prostitution) are discussed as factors that
make teens vulnerable to such trafficking. This paper recommends that human trafficking prevention
efforts (awareness programmes and information campaigns) be directed at places frequented by human
traffickers and teenagers in the absence of a capable guardian to reduce victimisation, as traffickers
analyse the lifestyles and routine activities of their targets. South Africa should also interrogate
entrenched practices such as intergenerational sex.
